The Ambivalences of the Digital—Humans and Technology Between New Dreams/Spaces of Possibility and (Un)Noticeable Losses

Abstract

AbstractEvery new technology is used by us humans almost without hesitation. Usually the military use comes first. Examples from recent history are the use of chemical weapons by Germany in the First World War and of atomic bombs in the Second World War by the US. Now, with the rapid advances in microelectronics over the past few decades, a wave of its application, called digitization, is spreading around the world with barely any control mechanisms. In many areas this has simplified and enriched our lives, but it has also encouraged abuse. The adaptation of legislation to contain the obvious excesses of “digitization” such as hate mail and anonymous threats is lagging behind massively. We hear almost nothing about technology assessment through systematic research; it is demanded at most by a few, usually small groups in civil society, which draw attention to the threats to humankind—future and present—and the Earth's ecosystem. One such group, the Federation of German Scientists (VDW) e.V., in the spirit of the responsibility of science for the peaceful and considered application of the possibilities it creates, asked three of its study groups to jointly organize its 2019 Annual Conference. The study groups “Health in Social Change,” “Education and Digitization,” and “Technology Assessment of Digitization” formulated the following position paper for the 2019 VDW Annual Conference, entitled “Ambivalences of the Digital.”